Barons pitcher Hector Santiago could spend time with White Sox

View full sizeBarons' Hector Santiago pitches to a Mobile batter in the second inning at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala., Thursday, June 9, 2011. (The Birmingham News/Mark Almond)

"He's got three quality pitches that make him a candidate to be a starter in the big leagues," Bar­ons manager Bobby Magallanes said. "He's got a lot of upside."

His fastball, ranging from 91 to 93 mph but sometimes touching 95 even toward the end of starts, has attracted inter­est. His performance is rare for two reasons: starters converted from a relief role, such as happened to Santiago, rarely maintain their velocity in extended innings and not many left-handers throw that hard.

The success comes after spending what seemed like every waking moment with his father, also named Hector Santiago, and brother, Anthony Santiago, working on fields or playing baseball while growing up.

Their days, beginning when he was seven, started at 6 a.m. during the summer and would end deep in the evening. They would dry the infield with cat litter or by dragging mattresses over it. "That was my life," Santiago said.

He was a reliever in the minor leagues until a spot start last season after several lengthy relief outings. The White Sox asked him to continue starting, which has developed his other pitches.

The change has been beneficial. Santiago, 23, relied on his fastball in high school. He didn't throw a curveball until his freshman year of college and refined his screwball just last winter.

"I didn't know what a screwball was," he said. "I had a pitching coach from Puerto Rico who said lefties normally threw it in the old days. I went out into a game and had some ugly swings on it. When it's in the zone, it's an effective pitch."

Catching the screwball has also been a challenge.

"I haven't quite figured it out yet," catcher Josh Phegley said. "It's a pretty interesting pitch. I've heard hitters ask me what it is. It's like a right-handed curveball from a left-hander. The 95-96 (mph fastball) from the left side is going to be hard enough."

Santiago still maintains the same warm-up routine he used as a reliever, throwing just 20 pitches in pregame bullpen work. Some pitchers will get as high as 50.

"I try not to overdo it in the bullpen," he said. "I feel that's enough. As long as I'm in the zone and don't feel tight, I'm good to go. I just try to keep the same routine. Everybody's like, 'Oh, you warm up so quick.' " Learning his between-starts routine will be Santiago's biggest adjustment. He needs to balance running and throwing on his four days off and being strong on the fifth day.

There is also the challenge of dealing with more pitches and innings than he's been used to. Santiago has already surpassed his career high in innings pitched (previously 64 1⁄ 3) with 692⁄ 3 innings this season including his time with the Barons and a season-opening stint at Class A Winston-Salem.

He has also thrown more than 100 pitches in three of his four starts with the Barons.

"I'm trying to not overdo it those days in between (starts)," Santiago said. "That's probably the one hard thing, just trying to maintain my arm, just trying to figure out your routine and maintaining it throughout the whole season.